Monday, June 18, 2007

2007 Recruiting - Ernest McCoy

Sorry for not updating yesterday. We had a sick baby who needed to go to a doctor and spent much of the morning screaming her lungs out.

Anyway, this is Ernest McCoy, not to be confused with Texas QB Colt McCoy, although at 6'5" 330#, the 4-star offensive guard can hardly be mistaken for the QB. McCoy is a Belle Glade, Florida recruit.

There really isn't that much to say about the guy other than that he chose us over West Virginia. He is, perhaps, the flip side to the Luther Davis saga. Ernest McCoy committed to LSU in October of 2006, 5 months before signing day. He told coaches that he wanted to take a visit to West Virginia. As you recall from the Davis story, LSU does not allow committed recruits to go on visits to other schools. The idea is that if a recruit wants to "commit", he shouldn't still be shopping around.

However, as Ernest McCoy proved, the rule isn't written in stone. I'm not sure what the reason was, but coaches gave Ernest special permission to visit West Virginia. He made the visit, maintained his commitment to LSU, and reported for workouts last week.

I think Ernest will compete for playing time early. He has the size. Unlike a lot of offensive line recruits, he won't have to put on bulk. You wonder if the size has the right proportion of muscle, but at least he won't be bowled over by bigger defensive linemen. The offensive line remains thin, especially on the right side, and especially if Will Arnold is not healthy enough to play.

Still, Les Miles has shown that he does not like to play true freshmen on the offensive line, as he did not do so at all in his first two seasons, so a redshirt is more likely.